LESSON IV The Second Declension. Order of Words. Movable ν.

24. Vocabulary

25. There are three declensions in Greek. The second declension is given before the first for purposes of convenience, since it is easier, and has a larger number of common nouns.

26. There is no indefinite article in Greek, and so ἀδελφός means either brother or a brother (usually the latter). Greek has, however, a definite article, and where the Greek article does not appear, the definite article should not be inserted in the English translation, Thus ἀδελφός does not mean the brother. In the plural, English, like Greek, has no indefinite article. ἄνθρωποι, therefore, means simply men. But it does not mean the men.

27. The noun in Greek has gender, number, and case.

28. There are three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter.

The gender of nouns must often be learned by observation of the individual nouns. But nearly all nouns of the second declension ending in -os are masculine; and all nouns of the second declension in -ov are neuter. The gender is indicated in the vocabulary by the article placed after the noun. The masculine article, ὁ, indicates masculine gender; the feminine article, ἡ, feminine gender; and the neuter article, τό, neuter gender.